Battle of Ryesgade - Second Day

Second Day

As the squatters awoke on the second day, they found themselves surrounded by an army of police. During the night, the Copenhagen police force had mustered over 400 men in riot gear. But at the same time, hundreds of citizens and many news reporters had also made their way to Ryesgade. The police had been planning to storm the barricades at dawn, but the presence of so many noncombatants people in the area, many of whom had made their way right up to the barricades and were now talking with the squatters, made their plans impossible. It was decided that the attack would have to be called off until the area just outside the obstacles was under firm police control and could be evacuated of all those not actively resisting.

While the police were busy trying to control the crowds, some of the reporters warned the squatters that the police were planning something big, and the squatters quickly organized a plan to counter the upcoming attack. The 700 defenders were organized in six groups. Each of the groups were charged with different parts of the defense. The barricades were divided into four sections, each with a group of defenders attached to it. These four groups were the biggest of the six groups (about 130 people strong) and were named "the standing units". The two other groups were named "the mobile unit" and "the house unit". The house unit was charged with defending the back entrance of the house and manning a lookout post on the roof. It was their responsibility to warn the others in case of an attack and to oversee many of the logistic tasks such as the making of more Molotov cocktails. They also had to prepare a final defense of the house in case the police broke through. The role of the mobile unit was as a reserve to support the standing units at the barricades. It was not attached to any particular barricade, but was free to move from place to place and assist if the defenders were in danger of being overwhelmed. Many people in this unit were given helmets and clubs for hand-to-hand fighting.

At about 1:30 am, the police attacked. A wave of about 150 of them in riot gear charged the western part of the barricades in a solid shield wall. Due to an early warning from the lookout post on top of the squat, the defenders were prepared. They bombarded the police with stones and petrol bombs, forcing them to retreat after about 10 minutes. Of the 150 police officers involved in the charge, only about 14 made it near the barricades, and about 40 police officers were injured in the attack.

The attackers then went to their backup plan, sending several squads of police in through the alleys and back houses surrounding Ryesgade. These squads would then go through an old shop and emerge well behind the barricades. The police were hoping that this would create a gap through which more police could flow, eventually establishing a bridgehead within Ryesgade. At 4:30, they sent the first squads in. The plan failed when local residents who had spotted the police moving through the back alleys warned the squatters.

The police broke down the door to the shop, only to find large, armed group of defenders waiting for them. The squatters started hurling stones through the shop window, and the police officers at the front soon found themselves trapped between the attacking squatters and the rush of police coming in from behind. Instead of retreating, the police commanders ordered their men to form a shield wall and tried to push their way into the street. The squatters responded by attempting to burn down the shop with the police inside, but the police had brought fire extinguishers with them and were able to put out the flames of the Molotov cocktail.

For a moment it looked as if the police would manage to push home their attack, but some of the squatters were armed with tear-gas grenades and threw three of them into the shop. The police were carrying gas masks but it was impossible to don them without breaking their shield wall and thus exposing themselves to the incoming stones. The police attack broke. Fifteen officers were injured, and another 20-30 had to be taken to hospital to have their eyes flushed because of the tear gas. After this, the police gave up trying to storm the barricades. The order was given that nobody was to try to enter the area. The police now focused on keeping the squatters inside the barricaded area. The police commanders feared that the squatters would try to expand the barricades to cut several main roads around the house.

The rest of the day saw a series of skirmishes between the police and the squatters. Normally these were just small incidents without any injuries to either side. The police now started to play the waiting game. This they hoped would give them time to re-organize and for extra forces from the rest of Denmark to arrive.